Where to begin? Perhaps with the fact that half McCain's face is permanently in darkness. There is no getting away from the fact that he's old, so his campaign should really stop trying. Cloaking him in shadow makes him look like a theatrical villain attempting to mask a hideous disfigurement, which is somewhat worse than being 71 with a few wrinkles.

Second, the delivery is weak, even by McCain's low standards. This really matters because the ad has a very difficult job to do: convincing anti-war, probable Obama voters that despite his well-earned status as a Vietnam hero and his occasionally flippant remarks about war ("the US will be in Iraq for 100 years", "Bomb-bomb-Iran" (), etc) he is no gung-ho Rumsfeldian hawk. But McCain's inability to sincerely read an autocue only reminds the viewer that he didn't write the words, and suggests he probably doesn't believe them either.

Even pundits on Fox News couldn't hide their amazement at how bad McCain's speech was on Tuesday night. While Obama stood striking regal poses, surrounded by 17,000 adoring supporters, McCain was filmed making feeble shots at Obama's "change we can believe in" slogan while standing hunched in front of a green piece of cardboard. Presentation matters, and McCain needs to do a lot of work on his.